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AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

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Re: AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

#11

Post by josephby »

I've never heard of this before, but it's absolute crap. I'd take five minutes and fill out the the FCC complaint form at http://www.fcc.gov/complaints (choose Wireless Telephone > Billing, Service, Privacy ... > Online Form). Send them back a letter with the bill (including the reference number that the FCC gave you). The correspondence will be handy if they ever try to cut you off or send you to collections.

It's amazing how Slamming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_slamming) refuses to die.

Re: AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

#13

Post by joelrunyon »

kevingadd wrote: post #3

AT&T are scum and this sort of stuff is standard practice with them. You shouldn't be giving them your money if you can avoid it. If you've got a GSM phone with the right radio bands, I suggest taking a look at the $30 plans here: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans For CDMA I believe Sprint and Verizon offer prepaid plans without contracts at around $50 for talk/data. The key is that IMO, a prepaid p…

At this point it isn't even about the data anymore, it's the simple fact that they're "choosing a plan" for me, without any input from me. Absolutely baffling.

I'll check out those options. Thanks.

Re: AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

#14

Post by joelrunyon »

acak wrote: post #5

I've had this happen to me. I agree it's presumptuous and toeing the line but just so you know I've always been able call them and have the data plan turned off for good on that line. One of the arguments I make with them is that if I have kids on my family plan who go off to school and pop their feature phone SIM card into their friends smartphone, I can't be expected to deal with that headache - and if AT&T isn't g…

I spent about 60 minutes on the phone with them today and they didn't back down (they'll take it off if I use a dumb phone, but they'll still charge me for this month).

I'll try your line of thought. Thanks.

Re: AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

#15

Post by bwlang »

Yeah they did the same thing to me. That was the last straw for me after 12 years with ATT/Cingular/whatever it was before that. I switched to T-mobile, even though it was a bit of a hassle to unlock my phone and their coverage is not as good in my area.

Re: AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

#18

Post by BruceIV »

joelrunyon wrote: post #13
kevingadd wrote: post #3

AT&T are scum and this sort of stuff is standard practice with them. You shouldn't be giving them your money if you can avoid it. If you've got a GSM phone with the right radio bands, I suggest taking a look at the $30 plans here: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans For CDMA I believe Sprint and Verizon offer prepaid plans without contracts at around $50 for talk/data. The key is that IMO, a prepaid p…

At this point it isn't even about the data anymore, it's the simple fact that they're "choosing a plan" for me, without any input from me. Absolutely baffling. I'll check out those options. Thanks.

If you're out of contract, why can't you just ditch them for another carrier? (or at least threaten to - it may make them more amenable to your very reasonable requests)

Re: AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone

#19

Post by fairramone »

joelrunyon wrote: post #14
acak wrote: post #5

I've had this happen to me. I agree it's presumptuous and toeing the line but just so you know I've always been able call them and have the data plan turned off for good on that line. One of the arguments I make with them is that if I have kids on my family plan who go off to school and pop their feature phone SIM card into their friends smartphone, I can't be expected to deal with that headache - and if AT&T isn't g…

I spent about 60 minutes on the phone with them today and they didn't back down (they'll take it off if I use a dumb phone, but they'll still charge me for this month). I'll try your line of thought. Thanks.

Just hang up and dial back. Do this a few times and you'll find an agent who can help. I imagine this auto plan thing is to avoid massive per minute charges they would normally charge
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